One of the problems of trying to replicate restaurant-quality Chinese food is that American ranges just don't put out enough heat to properly sear and stir-fry food in a wok. You can overcome this by purchasing an inexpensive turkey fryer and using the propane burner as your heat source to get proper temperatures for wok cooking.

Even high-end gas ranges only get up to around 20,000 BTUs of heat output while the commercial ranges used in Chinese restaurants range from 80,000-100,000 BTUs. Turkey fryer bases can range from 55,000 (if it has a 10 PSI regulator) to 180,000 (if it has a 20 PSI regulator) such as this $55 base. This can easily give you enough heat to properly cook your stir-fries, according to culinary weblog Kate's Global Kitchen..

Using the turkey fryer for its intended purpose has been controversial, as many have not obeyed safety precautions which have led to housefires. While using the propane burner with a wok is much safer as you're not bringing gallons of oil to a high temperature, you will still want to obey all safety precautions and I'd probably wear eye protection.

A special thanks goes out to Lifehacker reader Pher and Google Plus user Jason Perlow for being the inspirations for this post.